the inquiring mind
I believe the difference between man and animal is the ability to reason. Our ability to think beyond our senses and to rationalize has brought us humans this far in history. It is this aspect of the human condition that I believe is the greatest strength of our species.
As children, we experience our surroundings for the first time with wonder. Do you remember that ? When everything was new and the simplest thing can make you happy ? Unfortunately as we grow up, we lose this sense of wonder and everything becomes mundane. Why is that so ?
My theory is that we start compartmentalizing everything we know into distinct ‘categories’, oversimplifying and stereotyping. When we experience something new, we think we’ve experienced it before and thus come up with our theories about it. What it should be and what it shouldn’t. Some may call it cynicism, but I’ll call it narrow-mindedness.
When things happen the way we expect, it ‘cements’ our idea about that experience. If it doesn’t, we get dissapointed and reject it because we don’t understand it. Or worse still, we make up myths about what the new experience is about. Examples ? Pretending that thunder comes from Thor’s hammer. Fire comes from the gods. Or that the world was made in 7 days.
Truth is, we have to admit that we don’t know so much about our world, and that we need to find out more about it. Socrates once said, “a wise man is he who knows that he knows nothing”. Profound words, my friends.
Let’s face the truth people, we are not as open minded as we think. Put aside all your prejudices and preconceived notions and your world will be a happier place. The only thing constant about the world, is that it’s always changing, and that all our old fears are probably misplaced.
So inquire! explore! make mistakes! ask questions!
Look at the world around you with new eyes. Take the time, and you will find that everything you thought you knew, you just took for granted!
i agree with you. 7 days a weeek are made up.
i’m not sure if the world will be a happier place, but definitely a more interesting place!
you’re right you know, if you studied psych you’ll find that your theories are well explored and researched. it’s a bit sad that adults aren’t as inquisitive as children, but if they are, they become superior beings!! muahahaha
What I’m saying is that ignorance and narrow-mindedness leads to cynicism and disappointment. I think that if we retain some of that childlike wonder, we’ll always learn new things … wouldn’t that make you happy ?
life is sad, therefore we “ginga” it?
(brazilian word)
you know what i miss?
i miss when things were simpler between men and women. when everything required less thoughts. when there were no games, just feelings. when people felt less defensive of everything they did or feel, and they were more daring to be honest with themselves.
but i guess sometimes,
as much as you wanna retain your childlike innocence,
the big bad world has bit you one too many times in the tooche for you to be able to trust it anymore. maybe thats why people walk around, convincing themselves that they now know better. or at least should. a means of survival?
babe, ur rite… i’m a pessimist. i need a kick in the butt. i understand ur post from your point of view tho.
to keep an open mind. i shall try.
You’re not as pessimistic as you think you know
I’m a pretty simple person, but I don’t mind admitting that because complicated people seem to have a lot of stress and negativity in their lives.
I can be happy on a daily basis just being around my dogs or dancing in my kitchen to music.
And it was only six days that the world was made in.
He designated the seventh day to rest - while the rest of us have to get up and go to church - NOT FAIR.
hehehe, fair is you don’t go to church
Hey again, we take things for permanence, for patterns. Thats our nature. We are born wired like this. Thats the only way to survive and function by categorizing, compartmentalizing, generalizing, deleting, etc.
Or else you have to keep learning and figuring out how did you learn programming and internet in the first place, all over again. With that human intelligence comes its effect. As such, sometimes the generalization and categorization spills over other things we do, hence how we “cement” our idea and become stubborn or self-fulfilling in seeing only what we want to see.
We can talk about it, be aware of it, and reason over it. But we cannot about it, thats what we are, naturally. Only when we “rise” above ourselves and THINK again. We can be aware of what we are aware of. Our level of consciousness is amazing, and it keeps taking you to another level. Or so we thinketh…
error i missed a crucial word down there
“We can talk about it, be aware of it, and reason over it. But we cannot COMPLAIN about it, thats what we are, naturally. Only when we “rise” above ourselves and THINK again. We can be aware of what we are aware of. Our level of consciousness is amazing, and it keeps taking you to another level. Or so we thinketh…”